I like this trailer. Gives me hope Ron Howard can save Solo from being bad. Him combined with Lawrence Kasdan and with the cinematography of Bradford Young gives me hope this movie can stand on its own and be good enough.

The casting of Han is going to be a point of contention, for a lot of hardcore Star Wars fans.What is this fascination modern filmmakers have, when it comes to color grading and presenting everything in fucking greyscale?

The casting of Han is going to be a point of contention, for a lot of hardcore Star Wars fans.What is this fascination modern filmmakers have, when it comes to color grading and presenting everything in fucking greyscale?

Well, this is a different kind of Star Wars movie, like Rogue One, so I think that the cinematography helps it stand out.

After the carefully crafted and deliberate disaster of The Last Jedi, I have ZERO plans on ever going to see anything Star Wars related. Well, sort of... The only exception I can think of is the Obi-Wan film, and well, "one more" exception, a Boba Fett film if it's handled like a Sergio Leone spaghetti western. But other than those two dim possibilities, not a penny from me for any Star Wars products.

Look up my previous posts. Whenever a new Star Wars trailer appeared I showed them as promptly as possible to my kids. Not last night and not today, nor any day. This is a hisotric First for my family. If they stumble across the trailer and want me to watch it with them, I will, but I'm not going to try and entice them anymore with anything Star Wars.

And from canvassing others, I am by far not alone in this attitude. Johnson/Kennedy/Abrams/Hidalgo have permanently burned a lot of bridges, I hope that they enjoy the scent of the char and the miles-tall columns of smoke. Smoke is a hard commodity to collect to fatten one's wallet with. I highly doubt that my kids will grow up to be lifetime supporters of this franchise either.

Oh well. Time to finally grow up.

Thank you Disney for waking me up, and your well earned reward is zilch from me and my kin.

I wonder what the story is behind Ingrubers audition. I have heard that he auditioned and it didn't go well.I had also heard from someone else that he never even got to audition. He seemed to be perfect for the role.

I'm glad that Ehrenreich isn't trying to do a Ford impression. There will only be one Ford. Trying to cast an authenticate younger Ford is impossible. Either you don't do the movie or you cast the best actor you can find for the part. Hopefully, Ehrenreich can carry the movie on his own.

If the end product is good, then the movie's been worth making. Kasdan's and Howard's involvement give me a lot of hope for a return to more traditional Star Wars fun.

I'm glad that Ehrenreich isn't trying to do a Ford impression. There will only be one Ford. Trying to cast an authenticate younger Ford is impossible. Either you don't do the movie or you cast the best actor you can find for the part. Hopefully, Ehrenreich can carry the movie on his own.

If the trailer is any indication, he can't. His acting truly looks really subpar. The voice acting at the start is cringeworthy. In the first part ("mind of my own"), his inflection and emphasis is all wrong. In the next line, he's completely flat. He looks uncomfortable in the scene with Clarke. His acting in the Falcon was really bad, and I'm worried that since this was his first big budget film, he's not used to acting in a vacuum of greenscreen, or having to ADR the bulk of a film.

The only hope is that he can bring some life to the character in ADR. But again, I do not have my hopes up.

As for doing a Ford impersonation - I'm not sure I agree. Han Solo is not intrinsically a unique or especially interesting character. He's an archetype, and what made him work is Harrison Ford. Almost 100% of the credit for Han Solo's success as a character should go to Harrison Ford. So I'm not sure I see the point of the film to begin, but if you're going to do it, the actor really needs to study Ford and mimic his mannerisms, delivery, cadence, and try to bring his charisma. Because that is the character. Otherwise you might as well have the guy be Starlord or any one of the 8 million similar characters that have been created before or since.

Ingruber would have been distracting. The movie then becomes about this unique, uncanny impersonation of Ford than the character of Solo.

I absolutely disagree... What we have is a situation that is exactly the opposite. In that trailer i'm thinking 'WTF that's not Han Solo' He looks and sounds nothing like, that's distracting.

Disney/Lucasfilm have made a right royal cock up IMO .. Han doesn't say 'Get ready' FFS ! he says 'Punch it'

The delivery of 'I thought we were in trouble there for a second, but it's fun, we're fine' again another WTF moment that didn't hold any weight. It had no conviction, weak delivery of a line that i would not have expected Solo to say.

I find it baffling that people are actually arguing in favour of casting an actor who in almost no-way resembles or sounds like the established character he is supposed to play. The arguments for the casting also seem pretty disengenuous too - was it too distracting to cast Ewan as Obi-Wan? Of course not.

I get that people are trying to remain optimistic for this movie, but it comes off as being an apologist for Disney and Lucasfilm.

Nothing i've seen or heard of this film, including the new trailer, fills me with any confidence for it, but like Kyle above i've been sufficiently burned by TLJ that I don't have any plans to see this in the theatre, so I guess i'm just as bad on the opposite end of the spectrum. I'll stop throwing stones in my glass house now.

Honestly, this is the Star Wars movie that nobody wanted so am I really going to give a shit who plays Han Solo? Harrison Ford is Han Solo. Whoever they picked was never going to measure up to a cinematic legend.

If it works, hurray, if not whatever. I just hope I don't hate Han Solo, the character, after seeing it.

From CoGro:I just hope I don't hate Han Solo, the character, after seeing it.

When Johnson/Kennedy/Abrams/Hidalgo worked together to meticulously orchestrate the utter destruction of Luke Skywalker's character ("I'll kill my nephew I helped raise, but no way will I harm the father I only knew as a sociopath butcher and mass enslaver..."), they didn't cause me to hate the character of Luke Skywalker. In my mind and heart, his spirit is still well alive, relieved that his selflessness and sacrifice saved his father's soul, as he helped bring a well deserved and fitting end to the Empire. His nerve wracking, arduous training and hard work studying under the last two Jedi Masters, was not for nought. In spite of his understandable and reasonable doubts, fears and temptations, he went on to EARN these lofty achievements. He even solidly and unhesitatingly stood up against his Masters, who never taught him to Save. If one wants The Very Definition of a real hero, he IS it.

The quad-headed monster can never take that away from me. Nor blemish it.

If hate there be, the only target worthy of such aggression are those Pulling The Strings behind the curtain.

Han will always be the deeply flawed character who could dig deep down to muster Redemption.

What is this fascination modern filmmakers have, when it comes to color grading and presenting everything in fucking greyscale?

Right? I am so over this. At least the prequels were bright and vibrant, with wide cityscapes and establishing shots packed with detail. Now everything is dull, drab, monochrome and blurry. Compare Luke's fall into the pit to Han's fall. Han falls into blurry nothing, Luke's chasm had immense detail. The same can be said for most of the locations and especially the action shots in modern movies.

I suppose it saves money on special effects if they are all monochrome and blurry. And it's all about the effects, right George? Oh ... wait ...

Like other fellow posters, I’ll try and reserve judgement. I think it would be inappropriate to cast an actor purely on their ability to look/act like Ford, but I recognise that the key to the success of this film (for some fans anyway) is Ehrenreich capturing the spirit of Solo, as a character, and bringing some of Ford’s natural charisma to the screen. I always thought River Phoenix nailed it as young Indy, and would/could have been a great ‘young Solo’ too... but alas, not many like him around...

One of the surprises I have with the casting of Solo for this film, is that they didn’t go younger I.e. a more obvious teenage Solo. Ehrenreich almost seems as old as Ford was in ANH, which is why it appears somewhat incongruous. A younger version would have been easier to suspend disebelief. I get the distinct, and somewhat bad, feeling that Solo will end with someone saying to Han “hey - there’s some old fella and blonde kid in the cantina looking for a ship outta Tatooine”...

Ford was 33 while filming ANH. Alden was 27 while filming this, but he's playing early 20s in much of the film. It's supposed to be about 10 years before ANH (Most of it, anyway) So Han would be in his early 20s in this, and early 30s in ANH. (That 29 year old ANH age given by EU is no longer valid) Hidalgo of Lucasfilm said Han isn't even sure of his own exact age.

Thanks for the clarity over ages. That underlines my point... that I think the slightly unfair comparisons are largely due to the actor being a similar age (or at least physically looking a similar age) to Ford in ANH. They perhaps should have gone the ‘Young Indy’ route to fully sell the idea that this is a younger iteration of Han Solo. Showing the character at a similar age to the original makes it feel more of a re-boot of the character, rather than an extension of the existing one.

I still think it calls too much attention to itself. That whole BTS feature is centered around a weird sense of novelty.

Yes, it's a novelty. Just as Ian McDiarmid being able to reprise his role as a younger Palpatine in the prequels, due to him actually only being in his 30s when he played the elderly Palpatine in Return Of The Jedi, was a novelty. And how about Genevieve O'Reilly looking and being able to sound just like Caroline Blakiston (although Genevieve's nose is a tiny bit larger and points down a bit, which is slightly distracting at first, but not enough to bother me into thinking they should have cast someone else)? That's also a novelty and just like casting Anthony Ingruber as Han Solo, but it doesn't matter if a good casting decision is also a novel one. Of course the casting might not be the only bad decision if the story is as messed up as the sequels are so far. But then Rogue One was mostly fine so the story might be OK. I just wish they could have at least called Cassian Andor Kyle Katarn instead. Obviously it would have still messed up Kyle Katarn's story since the Cassian character died at the end, but at least it would be throwing fans a bone and not completely destroying what we originally knew. Then again they didn't have to have him die at the end either.

McDiarmid and Blakiston are in supporting roles and McDiarmid is a fantastic actor in his own right. But when your front and center is primarily the result of a look-a-like contest/viral impersonation, it's not only weird but superficial.

McDiarmid and Blakiston are in supporting roles and McDiarmid is a fantastic actor in his own right. But when your front and center is primarily the result of a look-a-like contest/viral impersonation, it's not only weird but superficial.

But getting to play Han Solo just because you're friends with Steven Spielberg is just fine though? The character is so iconic that Han Solo needs to look, sound and act as much like Han Solo as possible. Period. Anthony Ingruber is the best person we know of that can do that job. They failed the casting.

I think it’s probably more important they cast a talented actor with a bit of on screen charisma than a look alike. Now if you can get that as well as someone who looks and sounds like Ford then great... but being a talented actor should be the primary requirement.

I think it’s probably more important they cast a talented actor with a bit of on screen charisma than a look alike. Now if you can get that as well as someone who looks and sounds like Ford then great... but being a talented actor should be the primary requirement.

So why did they cast a wooden actor who required an acting coach after they realised how bad he was? Also, I forgot to mention before that he's 5 inches shorter than Harrison Ford. That might not be a big problem by itself but all the problems add up so it just makes things worse.

So why did they cast a wooden actor who required an acting coach after they realised how bad he was?

Source?

I can't believe you didn't know this. It was widely reported.

Quote:

And, not entirely satisfied with the performance that the directors were eliciting from Rules Don't Apply star Alden Ehrenreich, Lucasfilm decided to bring in an acting coach. (Hiring a coach is not unusual; hiring one that late in production is.)

I think it’s probably more important they cast a talented actor with a bit of on screen charisma than a look alike. Now if you can get that as well as someone who looks and sounds like Ford then great... but being a talented actor should be the primary requirement.

So why did they cast a wooden actor who required an acting coach after they realised how bad he was? Also, I forgot to mention before that he's 5 inches shorter than Harrison Ford. That might not be a big problem by itself but all the problems add up so it just makes things worse.

Hmmm - I would take the acting coach with a pinch of salt... besides, acting coaches are regularly used to enhance a performace rather than literally teaching someone how to act.

In terms of not looking like Ford... I always thought Sean Patrick Flanery was a very convincing young Indiana Jones, but I never thought he brought a lot of Harrison Ford to the role... and in my opinion, it was all the better for it. Now don’t get me wrong, on the face of it, Alden Ehrenreich doesn’t seem to be conjuring up what I’d think of as the spirit of Solo/Ford (in what we’ve seen thus far, and I do think it’s a bit odd that they seem to have written this for a Solo not much younger than the ANH version (which doesn’t help matters as it encourages comparison), but I’ll ultimately try and reserve judgment and give the benefit of doubt... and I don’t even like what Disney have done with Star Wars to date.